The Goo Goo Dolls

We showed up to the Centrum Arena, where the Goo Goo Dolls were about to make their appearance, with much excitement. We went through the doors and made our way to the huge booth of merchandise with the Goo Goo Dolls printed clothing and what not. We bought our dad and ourselves a shirt and I got a keychain, of course. Then we walked around the entire arena trying to find our seats. We finally did and sat down waitiung for the concert. We waited about a half hour then the sponsers came out and told us that the Goo Goo Dolls would be out in about 5 minutes. The excitement level jumped in the crowed and in myself. I couldn't believe it. I was about to see the band that I had grown up too. Then the lights dimmed and I saw John in front of me waiting to jump on the stage with his acoustic. The background music quit and then I saw him run up. The lights flashed on the stage and the backdrop was revealed as the crowd went wild. Then Mike burst into life on the drums starting off the song that I don't remember becuase I was in shock of seeing this marvelous band. They finished up the song with amazing vocals and then John began talking to the audience and grabbing posters just like on the DVD live in Buffalo. Then I heard a familar into and began screaming for the song SLIDE! I was in heaven. The concert continued with the popular songs and I was still in a state of shock. Robbie was slammin' on his bass and making funny faces as the band mastered their songs. Then they played January Friend and I flashed back in time to a house in Idaho. My step-sisters, Amanda, and I were making cookies and a cake for Cherie's birthday and we burned both of them cause we put them in the wrong side of the oven or something. So we opened up some windows and blasted the Dizzy Up The Girl album throughout the house while we ate plain hot cocoa mix, sometimes just putting it in our mouths then letting out a lot of air and watching the cloud of Hot Cocoa hit the floor. Then I came back as the song continued. They played Name and other really amazing songs with such a tightness and neatness that blew me away. How can a band sound so much better live than on a recorded CD? I was taken aback by their concert playing abilities and knew right then I was addicted to concerts. I was going to make it a priority to see these guys again with my whole family! Then the place was going crazy as the intro to Iris began to come forth from their guitars, drums ,and mandolin. I was "flying". This song was the song I was waiting to hear live all my life. I soaked it in as the melodic sounds came rushing through the speakers and vibrated through my chest. It was the best thing I have ever experienced. As they finished the song the crowd was going insane as was I. The band said goodbye and left the stage but the crowd just kept on screamin' until they came back on for an encore. They ripped out with the song Broadway then to my surprise I was hearing American Girl by Tom Petty and I was wishing my dad could have been there with me to see. It was the coolest concert ever in the history of man. This time when they left the stage they were not coming back so the lights came on and the staduim was emptied. It was the most awesome thing I had ever experienced! I love The Goo Goo Dolls!

School

Cali: Wednesday, July 4th

California: Sunday, July 1

Day 7: Saturday, June 30th

We woke up and dilly dallied around then made our way across the street to the Farmers Market. We roamed around until we had tasted enough samples of the juiciest fruit you could imagine then bought snow cones and headed back over to the house. Then we got in the pool and chilled for a long time.

Around 5 in the afternoon Megan did a back flip off the diving board. I was ready to do one too, because if she could do it then so could I. So I got on the board and tried to get my courage up when all of the sudden I felt my toes slip and everything was black and I felt so happy and peaceful. But in the black came a little square cartoon. Only a white contour. It was holding a vertical electronic banner that kept flashing "Swim! Keep Swimming!" as a calm voice spoke it. So I began swimming. In no rush at all. I felt no need for air. I kept swimming when all of the sudden I felt someone grab my arm and pull me to the step where I spit out. All I could see was all the blood I just spit out in the side of the pool, nothing else. I couldn't even see my cousin that grabbed my arm. They helped me out of the pool and I laid on a blanket on the grass and I started to see things again. My aunts all rushed out and I suddenly felt a huge ice pack being shoved under my tongue (which hurt really bad because of the cold) by my aunt Larene. Then they asked me questions and asked what happened but I couldn't remember much except the cartoon. My aunt Julie called the hospital and uncle Russ's brother, Mike, to give me a blessing. He came and blessed me while I held a rag and ice pack to the bottom of my tongue. When he was done, me, Julie, and my mom headed over to the hospital. We waited about 3 minutes while my mom did some stuff at the desk. Then they called me back behind the desk while she took my temperature (under my tongue). She had to do it 2 times because it was too cold from the ice pack. After that she asked me what happened and I gave her the low down on the happenings. Then she asked where we where from and we chatted about St. George while we waited for my turn to see the doctor. She took us back and I lied down on the bed then Aunt Julie came in just before my doctor did. He asked me what happened and all that then he checked my eyes, my jaw, my chin, teeth, neck, then my tongue. He said the cut was on the line of stitches or not, so I could decide. And of course I chose not too because that would have sucked! He then looked at the top of my tongue and said it was very bruised and scraped. The bottom was split open and bleeding pretty good. He talked (with a lisp might I add. That made me laugh in my head.) about how to care for my tongue so it didn't get infected. Then a lady came in and had my mom sign some papers. While she signed those I was looking around the room and saw that a tin box on the wall was the brand "Kendal" and that made me laugh because my friend Kendal makes me laugh. Because I was on my side the blood rushed to my tongue and started heavily bleeding again so I hurried and lied on my back as the blood eased up. Then we walked out of there and headed for the nearest Jamba Juice. It was the only thing that sounded good because I felt nauseous. I got a Strawberry Wild with an Imunity boost! It was good but I could barely suck through the straw because my tongue was currently"out of order". So we got back and watched Better Off Dead and I talked to my cousins about the whole ordeal. I was so exhausted so I went to sleep in my mom's room because the doctor said to wake my up every 2 hours just in case of a concusion, but we never did. I was afraid to go to sleep for fear I would do something to my tongue or dream about the incednet. But I slept fine occasionally waking up every couple of hours. It was quite an adventure!

Day 6. Friday, June 29th

We awoke early and hit the road towards Monterey Bay Aquarium. When we arived we bought tickets and stepped inside the big cool building. The first thing I saw was a big replica of a whale hanging from the tall ceiling. It was cool. There was otters swiming in a thing next to us and we had to pull out our folded maps to decide where to go first. We roamed the entire builing seeing everything from jelly fish, California sun fish, otters, sting rays, mini sharks, to seahorses. I didn't think sea horses existed. Now I know. On the way back to Julies, we stopped at Marina Beach. It was soooooo cool. Waves were crashing so far back and they were huge. The water was really cool looking. We stayed there for a while then left to go to home. That night we went night swimmin'. It was really fun. Christopher and I were doing cool tricks on the board. It was sweet!

California Day 5: Thursday, June 28th

We woke up and ate breakfast then mozied around till all the kids were kind of calm in the pool. Then we got in the pool and swam for a bit and did some sweet tricks on the board. Then we got sick of the kids so we decided to go chill in one of the rooms and hook up a kareokee game on xBox. We did that for a while then got bored so we decided to start filming some more for the music video. Then we headed over to Los Gatos and walked up and down the streets. We slipped into a cool candy shop and chilled there for a while then went and got some gelato. It was good! Then we went back to Julie's and chilled the rest of the night and watched Even Stevens.